The issue with random tech is he or she may haven't heard about thermal fixing. Most likely they propose 'classical' fix: strip fingerboard, replane the neck, put new fb and intall new frets. Cost is about 3 times as your bass if not more. On the other side thermal treatment is not invasive and can even be done at home, if you have the source of 75-90 deg. C with enough room for entire neck. I've used active ironing board my wife has for example.
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Why does my bass keep buzzing no matter what I do?
- Thread starter Dophire
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I used a drapery steamer to straighten out a neck on an unplayable, un-replaceable guitar.
That idea could work.
+1
That description implies a neck that's probably bowed a bit too much. As you straighten the neck (you need a straight edge and feeler gauges to put numbers to things and stop guessing), you'l get to a point where it buzzes everywhere. Believe it our not, this is progress. Once you get there, you raise the action at the bridge saddles, and voila.... things will be much better.
Setup starts with getting the neck profile right - there is a video from Lakland where Carl Pedigo (he knows his stuff) shows you how to do that - it's straightforward and works. Once that is done, you set string heights via saddle heights, then you adjust pickup heights and intonation.
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I don't know man, this feels more serious than a bowed neck. I tried turning the truss rod again a little bit but now it's literally buzzing everywhere except for the first fret on the low e. Worst case scenario - I sell the thing. The not so good part about selling it is the fact that I've unfortunately already spent 55€ on bass lessons. I'm in a really desperate situation right now, it also doesn't help that I probably don't have anyone in a 40 mile radius of where I live that would possibly know how to fix ski jump on a bass guitar of all things. Well, at least now I'll know that I should absolutely never order an instrument online unless I want something that will have a good 90% chance of being broken in one way or another lol
That's precisely what I'd expect - if my assumption/prediction is right, you are making progress - "buzzing everywhere" means you probably just need to raise the action via the bridge saddles. I'e done lots of setups - take a few deep breaths, you'll get there. Try raising one string at a time - assuming it gets better, you'll be on your way. As you straighten the neck and raise bridge saddles, the tuning will go up - you'll need to retune as you go, but you are getting there!
Is it new or used? Is there a return policy or warranty?
What is the action (gap between 12'th fret and bottom of the string, lets say E)? Can you make a photo at that angle or even closer to the head, so we could see the curvature of the neck?
I suspect now you have so called S-curve, with overtightened TR you have front-bow in lower positions (where TR actually works) and back-bow in the higher area - where ski-jump has probably happened AND TR doesn't have any effect. Be careful not to snap the TR by trying to do even more "straightening"!
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The short answer is to take this to an experienced, qualified guitar repairman.
It's impossible to diagnose these things by pictures, but when it comes to adjusting setup on your bass, the tasks are, and they simply must be done in this order, period:
Neck relief (truss rod adjustment)
String height over last fret
Set intonation (only done when installing new strings)
Set string clearance over pickups
Check nut/string height over 1st fret
Each one of these precedes (or sets up) the next step. Go at this in random order, getting THIS to where it feels right often throws it off somewhere else.
You can, as you and each of us has, easily get it wrong and hard to reel back in. A pro would see where your train jumped the track and fix it quick, and hopefully show you a few things.
That would be my advice.
It's impossible to diagnose these things by pictures, but when it comes to adjusting setup on your bass, the tasks are, and they simply must be done in this order, period:
Neck relief (truss rod adjustment)
String height over last fret
Set intonation (only done when installing new strings)
Set string clearance over pickups
Check nut/string height over 1st fret
Each one of these precedes (or sets up) the next step. Go at this in random order, getting THIS to where it feels right often throws it off somewhere else.
You can, as you and each of us has, easily get it wrong and hard to reel back in. A pro would see where your train jumped the track and fix it quick, and hopefully show you a few things.
That would be my advice.
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Photos look like ski-jump is here or at least the neck is severely bowed...Well beyond what normal setup could do.
Then it must be under the warranty and whoever sold it should take it back as defective either for service or replacement. Start with that option first.
I say High, uneven frets. From the first set of pics I can literally see some frets are lifting out of the fingerboard with space underneath while others are set flush
Inexpensive basses often suffer from this as well as improperly cut nuts.
This seems much more likely to me than a defective bass from the factory
It needs a fret leveling and setup. My $.02
Inexpensive basses often suffer from this as well as improperly cut nuts.
This seems much more likely to me than a defective bass from the factory
It needs a fret leveling and setup. My $.02
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You got this. Hang in there.
J Wilson is right.
where it gets tough is having the confidence to accept each step along the way as acceptable. That’s the experience part and why so many suggest getting help.
That being said, you are on your way to being experienced.
Lastly, be cognizant of your playing style. It’s super easy to make an ecectric bass buzz if you get heavy handed.
Don’t get mad and sell it- you will regret it.
J Wilson is right.
1 tune to pitch
2 straighten the neck. This is the hard part because no neck is perfect. They are all compromises so set it flat and loosen it a hair.
3 raise/lower the saddles to get to the best playable action for your bass.
2 straighten the neck. This is the hard part because no neck is perfect. They are all compromises so set it flat and loosen it a hair.
3 raise/lower the saddles to get to the best playable action for your bass.
where it gets tough is having the confidence to accept each step along the way as acceptable. That’s the experience part and why so many suggest getting help.
That being said, you are on your way to being experienced.
Lastly, be cognizant of your playing style. It’s super easy to make an ecectric bass buzz if you get heavy handed.
Don’t get mad and sell it- you will regret it.
Is there a decent music store you can get to? Usually they’ll have someone pretty good at setup issues.
Here's Dave, from Dave's World of Fun Stuff (his YouTube video channel) adjusting your bass. He addresses an ultra-bowed neck and fret sprout first, but watch in particular from around 4:30 forward. Dave's a longtime repairman from Toronto, and a player as well.
You'll need a set of auto feeler gages, a capo, a steel rule that reads to 64ths of an inch, a good small Phillips screwdriver and some allen wrenches. You can get any or all of this at a local home improvement store or auto parts store for not much money.
Good Luck.
You'll need a set of auto feeler gages, a capo, a steel rule that reads to 64ths of an inch, a good small Phillips screwdriver and some allen wrenches. You can get any or all of this at a local home improvement store or auto parts store for not much money.
Good Luck.
From the last pictures you posted it looks like your pickups are set way too high, when depressing the strings at the last fret a good starting point is to at least have two nickles worth of space. Its hard to be sure just through pictures but yours look like you'd have the pole pices nearly touch the strings if you pressed the last fret. The magnetic pull from the pickups will cause even buzzing accross all of the neck if set too close, is start by sinking them down to at least rule out another possible cause for the buzz.
I think this is going to end up being the correct answer. That action is sky-high and it's still buzzing? Yikes.
Time for an appointment with a guitar doctor.
Report back once done. Not much else that can be said here that will be of any use.
